Babylonia Bab. and Assyr. THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 368 tffiown open to his army under Gobryas, ffis general. Naboffidus was imprisoned. Three raonths later Cyrus entered Babylon; Belshazzar, who doubtless had set up his tffione after his father had been deposed, was slain a week later on the night of the eleventh of Marchesvan. Tffis scene may have occurred in the palace built by Nebuchad¬ rezzar. Tffis event, told by the chrofficler, is a reraarkable verification of the interesting story related of Belshazzar in Dnl. The title used by the kings who follow the Bab Dynasty is "King of Babylon and King of Countries." Persian Rulers op Babylonia Cyrus; 538-529 BC Cambyses; 529-522 BC Barzia 41. Persian Nebuchadrezzar III Rulers of Darius I; 521-485 BC Babyloffia Xerxes; 485-464 BC Artaxerxes I; 464-424 BC Xerxes II; 424-423 BC Darius II; 423^04 BC Artaxerxes II; 405-358 BC Artaxerxes III (Ochos); 358-338 BC Arses; 338-335 BC Darius III; 335-331 BC Alexander the Great conquered Babyloma 331 BC. Several of the Pers rulers figured prominently in the OT narratives. Cyrus in a cylinder inscription, which is preserved in a fragraentary form, endeavors to justify himself in the eyes of the people. He claims that the god Marduk raised him up to take the place of Naboffidus, and to defend the religion of the people. He tries to show how considerate he was by returffing to their respective cities the gods that had been reraoved from their sffiines; and esp. by Uberating foreign peoples held in bond¬ age. WhUe he does not mention what exUes were allowed to return to their native homes, the OT inforras us that the Jews were among those de¬ Uvered. And the returffing of the images to their respective places is also an interesting commentary on Ezr 1 7, in wffich we are told that the Jews were aUowed to take with them theh sacred vessels. The spirit maffifested in the proclamation for the rebuilding of the temple (Ezr 1 1.4) seems also to have been in accordance ¦with his policy on ascending the Bab throne. A year before his death he associated with himself Cambyses his son, another character raentioned in the OT. He gave ffira the title "King of Babylon," but retained for ffimself "King of Countries." A usurper Smerdis, the Magian, called Barzia in the inscrip¬ tions, assumed the throne of Babyloffia, but Darius Hystaspes, who was an Aryan and Zoroastrian in rehgion, finaUy killed Smerdis and raade himself king of Babylon. But before he was acknowledged king he had to reconquer the Babyloffians. By so doing the ancient tradition that Bel of Babylon conferred the legitimate right to rule that part of the world ceased to be acknowledged. Under Nidinta-Bel, who assumed the name Nebuchadrezzar III, the Babylonians regained their independence, but it was of short duration, lasting less than a year. Literature.—History; Rogers, History of Bab and As¬ syr, 1902: 'Wincliler, History of Bab and Assyr, 1907; liing, Sumer and Accad, 1910. Rehgion: Jastrow, Religion of Bab and Assyr, 1898; Rogers, Religion of Bab and Assyr, Esp. in Its Relation to Israel, 1908; Sayce, The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Bab, 1903. Literature; Assyr and Bab Lit., in "The 'World's Great Books"; edited by R.F.Harper. Kelation to OT; Price, The Monuments and the OT, 1907; Pinches, The OT in the Light of the Records of Assyr and Bab, 1902; Clay, Light on the O'T from Babel, 1908; Clay, Amurru, the Home ofthe Northern Semites, 1909, See also " Literature " in Assyria. A. T. Clay BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, THE RELIGION OF: I. Definition 1. First Period 2. Second Period 3. Third Period II. The Sources III. The History IV. The Pantheon 1. EnUl. EUil 2. Anu 3. .Ea 4. Sin 5. Shamash 6. Ishtar 7. Marduk (OT Merodach) 8. Nabu (OT Nebo) 9. Nergal, the city god of Kutu (OT Guthah) 10. Ninib II. Ramman 12. Tammuz 13. Asshur V. Hymns and Prayers VI. Magic 1. Maqlu 2. Shurpu VII. The Last Things VIII. Myths and Epics IX. The Astral Theory of the Universe X. The Relations with the Religion of Israel Literature /. Definition.—The rehgion of Babylonia and Assyria is that system of belief in higher things with which the peoples of the Tigris and Eupffiates valley strove to put themselves into relations, in order to hve their lives. The discoveries of the past cent, have suppUed us with a mass of informa¬ tion concerning this faith from which we have been able to secure a greater knowledge of it than of any other ancient oriental religion, except that of Israel. Yet the information which is thus come into our hands is embarrassing because of its very richness, and it will doubtless be a long tirae before it is possible to speak with certainty concerning many of the problems which now confront us. Progress in the interpretation of the Uterature is however so rapid that we may now give a much raore intelligible account of this religion than could have been secured even so recently as five years ago. For purposes of convenience, the reUgion of Babylonia and Assyria may be grouped into three great periods. (1) The fhst of these periods extends from the earliest times, about 3500 BC, down to the union of the Bab states under Hammurabi, about 2000 BC. (2) The second period extends to the rise of the Chaldaean empire under Nabopolassar, 625 BC, and (3) The third period embraces the brief history of tffis Chaldaean or neo-Bab empire under C'vrus, 538 BC. The Assyr religion belongs to the second period, though it extends even into the thhd period, for Nineveh did not faU untU 607 BC. //. The Sources.—The primary sources of our knowledge of this reUgion are to be found in the distinctively religious texts, such as hymns, prayers, priestly rituals and liturgies, and in the vast mass of magical and incantation literature. The major part of this reUgious lit. which has come down to us dates from the reign of Ashurbanipal (668-625 BC) though rauch of it is quite clearly either copied frora or based upon much older material. If, however, we reUed for our picture of the Bab and Assyr religion exclusively upon these reUgious texts, we should secure a distorted and m some places an indefinite view. We raust add to these in order to perfect the picture practically the whole of the lit. of these two peoples. The inscriptions upon which the kings handed down to posterity an account of their great deeds contain lists of gods whom they invoked, and these